Payden McKnight

Payden Johnston, better known by his stage name Payden McKnight, is an American rapper, YouTuber, actor, and singer. He joined Flex Entertainment in Summer 2020 after being signed by Lil Squeaky and Yung Garfield. He became an executive for the label in the summer of 2021. He is known for his one-liners, self produced music and many Flex inside jokes that are started by him.

Discovery
Payden had always been interested in making music. His love for music had always existed, but it wasn't until he was 13 when he took it seriously. Payden started listening to countless musicians, mainly consisting of Twenty One Pilots, Kendrick Lamar, Tyler the Creator, Radiohead, Kanye West, The Beatles, Barenaked Ladies, and OutKast. One day, when Payden was scrolling through YouTube, he discovered a YouTuber named Brad Taste in Music. He loved his content and watched him frequently. Payden has known about Flex Entertainment since the release of Flex Gang Volume 1. But he never had the urge to join until The Evolution of Music by Travis Scotch showed up randomly in his recommended. Then he joined the Flex Entertainment Discord Server and got to know the community really well. He became decent friends with Lil Kraqqen and Yung Schmoobin (Neither of them is friends anymore) and then finally decided to join. He now has good connections with Flex artists Depp Gibbs, J Coyn Drive, R&d, Lil Pinecone, Young Seagull, and Lil Squeaky.

Signing to Flex Entertainment
Payden sent a rough demo of his song "This Is My Country" to every single Admin and Executive, but only Lil Squeaky and Yung Garfield responded. They were playing Roblox: Work at a Pizza Place and decided to listen to it. They immediately signed Ya Boy Payden to Flex Entertainment after that as Lil Squeaky said to him, "Yeah, You've Got Potential." He signed the same day as Lil Kraqqen and R&d. Lil Kraqqen became a Yang criminal however and they're collaborations didn't last long. R&d and Payden ended up collaborating together on 2 songs that appear on Ya Boy Payden's debut mixtape, 16-Bit Fantasy.

16-Bit Fantasy
16-Bit Fantasy is the debut mixtape of Ya Boy Payden that releases October 23rd, 2020. Originally called This is My Country, it's an 11 track mixtape where every track has a sample from a song from any OST from a video game on the console Super Nintendo Entertainment System (his favorite video game console). The mixtape originally was gonna be sampling songs from Donkey Kong Country, but that changed very soon. Payden, with the low budget he had, was looking for somebody to mix it. Originally R&d was going to mix the 2 tracks he was on, but Payden eventually found Daniel Ryšavý on Discord. Daniel ended up producing, mixing, and mastering every single track on the mixtape, except the 1st track which is a 17-second intro. This mixtape features the well known Depp Gibbs, Young Seagull, White Fury, and 2 features from R&d. Payden originally planned on releasing 2 singles and 3 music videos to hype up the release of 16-Bit Fantasy, but he ended up having no singles and instead just releasing 3 music videos for the songs, "The Life of Payden", "This is My Country", "The Other Life of Payen", and "Celebration". There was also a follow-up mixtape called 16-Bit Universe that got cancelled as well as a full-length LP. The song "Hoppin' in the Back" debuted at No. 19 on the Flex Hot 100, his highest-charting entry to date.

Snitching to Fame and The Wonder Years
Long story short, Ya Boy Payden snitched on himself after letting a bunch of people into his Zoom Physics class and then he got grounded for the entire month of October 2020. This led to him not being active which then led to him becoming an icon of the Payden Pack branding as well as Harriet Tubman memes spiking in the Flex Entertainment Discord. He announced he would be releasing various projects throughout the next few months including "The Wonder Years" and "YaBoyPayden Season." He made the bold claim that Flex would "burn to the ground" in 2021. He later apologized for his comments and returned to the label on December 15. He released a new single "Addiction To Being Humilated" on January 1, 2021 as the lead single for "The Wonder Years." He departed from Flex Entertainment on April 3, 2021. The extended play was released on April 9, 2021 to negative reviews.

Return to Flex Entertainment and Payden Saves The World
He returned to the Flex Entertainment Discord Server in June 2021. He was signed back to the label by Lil Squeaky and Yung Garfield. He released his first singles back in the label "WARZONE" and the solo version of "AYE" on July 16. "WARZONE" and "AYE debuted at No. 18 and No. 72 respectively. He announced his second mixtape "Payden Saves The World" that would be released on July 30, 2021. The third single for the mixtape "MIAMI (Hotline)" with J Coyn Drive was released on July 23. It debuted at No. 5, becoming his highest debut on the chart. "Payden Saves The World" received mixed reviews from critics. The tape was praised for its production, but its concept was criticized for being underwritten. Despite the reception, it made a significant impact commercially. Every song debuted in the Top 50, competing with WT's "Thank U Next 2." The three singles reached the top 5 on the release week. The following week, "PAPERCUT" with Lil Toy Yoda leaped to the number one spot on the Flex Entertainment Hot 100 after a massive streaming surge, becoming his first career number one.

Mixtapes

 * 16-Bit Fantasy (as Ya Boy Payden) (2020)
 * Payden Saves the World (2021)
 * iKnight Radio (2021)

EPs

 * The Wonder Years (2021)
 * 101.2 (001-003) (2021)
 * 101.2 (004-006) (2021)
 * 101.2 (007-009) (2021)